[And a day] and [a] month, and [a] year.—Thirteen symbolic months, the 390 years of Protestantism’s siege of the Papacy.—Ezek. 4:5. For to slay.—To make nominal Christians of, to take away the manhood of. The third part of men.—According to the World Almanac for 1917, the total number of Christians in the world at the beginning of the twentieth century was 571,400,000, of whom one third, 177,800,000, were Protestants. 9:16. And the number of the army of the horsemen.—In round numbers, at the time of identification. Were two hundred thousand thousand.—Approximately two hundred millions. [And] I heard the number of them.—Heard, heeded, or noted, the count as given in the World Almanac, as correct. This is a tribute to a journal notorious for its ignoble, unjust and dishonest attacks on Pastor Russell. “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.” And have you noticed, on the same principle, that nearly all the encyclopedic references herein are to the great standard Protestant works to be found in every capable minister’s library? How is it that _they_ do not know these things? 9:17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision.—Horses are symbols of teachings. It is the doctrines a man has been taught that carry him along to do things. “As a man thinketh, so is he.” The man and his beliefs are inseparable.—Joel 2:4. (The four kinds of horses of Zech. 6:1‐8 seem to refer to four companies of saved ones. Red, the Ancient Worthies; black, the Little Flock; white, the Great Company; bay, the world of mankind.) And them that sat [on] UPON them.—The total Protestant church membership. Having breastplates of fire.—Keeping the doctrine of hell‐fire well to the front in their teachings. And of jacinth.—“The hyacinthus of the Romans is invariably blue and lustrous. This description suggests the blue flame which issues between the fire and the brimstone, represented as ‘smoke’ in verse 18.”—Cook. And brimstone.—Yes, indeed, plenty of brimstone went along with the hell‐ fire.—Rev. 14:10. And the heads.—“The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.”—Isa. 9:15. “In a genus of serpents or ophidian reptiles called _amphisboena_ the tail and head are equally obtuse, and the scales on the head so similar to those on the back as to render it difficult to distinguish one extremity from the other. Hence these reptiles have been supposed to have the power of creeping backwards or forwards with equal facility.” (Cook.)—Isa. 29:10‐14; John 4:22. Were as the heads of lions.—Able to swallow the most ridiculous and impossible theories.—1 Chron. 12:8. And out of their mouths issued fire.—Sermons full of hell‐fire. And smoke.—See Rev. 9:18. And brimstone.—O yes, surely; plenty of brimstone, to go with the hell‐ fire. 9:18. By these [three] PLAGUES was the third part of men.—The Protestant third of Christendom. Killed.—Deprived of reason, manhood and dignity. By the fire.—The sermons full of hell‐fire.